The Curse He Bears
by Arion1
Summary: Hermione hasn't seen Draco in 5 years, since the end of the war. Now he's back and needs her help. Oneshot HxD
1. The Curse He Bears

**This is the first Harry Potter fanfiction I've done so please don't be rude. I'm planning it as a one-shot but if I get enough reviews wanting me to continue I will. I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! Here goes nothing.**

The Curse He Bears

It was five years ago. Five years since Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. Hermione Granger woke up shaken from her latest nightmare.

"_Harry" she screeched as the Dark Lord sent a jet of green light towards the Chosen One. His body fell and it landed next to Ron's. Tears poured down her face as she fell over them, her best __friends. She heard his high laugh as he walked to her and she looked up and saw the pale face, the burning eyes. All around were the bodies of the people she saw as her family. The Weasley's, Tonks and Lupin, all her schoolmates who had stayed to fight. The Death Eaters stood over the bodies laughing but there was one whose mouth was not in his usual smirk. She met Draco Malfoy's eyes as Voldemort aimed his wand at her. "Avada Kedevra" she heard but the green flash never reached her, never killed her, _and she woke up in her bed with her heart pounding and hair wild.

It was always the same nightmare, always. Although she knew perfectly well Harry was alive; and Ron, it never left her mind, the alternate reality that could have been. She thought of the end of her dream, watching Malfoy as she died. Nobody had seen Draco Malfoy since Lord Voldemort's death and as an Auror, Hermione was curious as to where he'd been the past five years, but no one had found a lead on him at all. She got out of bed and started getting dressed. The witch would have preferred calling in sick to work, but she didn't think they would be able to stand her absences from work much longer. Everyone was hit hard by the war, but Hermione had been specifically affected by it and no one knew why.

She opened her front door to be stunned into freezing. The one man she never thought she would see again as standing at her door. Draco Malfoy had seemed to be in debate about knocking on her door. When her door opened he stepped back, refusing to meet her eyes at first. But the task he was determined to complete gave him courage.

"I need your help Granger." He spoke to Hermione, but returned his eyes to the floor after his last word.

"So I'm not Mudblood anymore? What is it, Malfoy? I'm late for work. Unlike you I've shown up in the world and people expect me to be around."

He thrust his left sleeve up and pushed his mark in her face.

"This Granger, damnit, this! It follows me like a curse. I can't get rid of it. Did you know some wizard shopkeepers ask to see your arm to make sure they're not serving a Death Eater? I want it gone. It's my past, and as long as it stains my arm, I can't have a future."

"Why do you all come to me? You're not the first to ask me about this. I don't know how to get rid of it! Why do you think I can?"

Both of their voices had risen, and Hermione pulled Draco into her flat when she saw one of her Muggle neighbors watching.

"It's because you are Hermione Granger. 'The greatest witch of our time.' Every Daily Prophet I see, you're on the front page for some new spell, potion or another Order of Merlin, First Class. All the others know it too, that's why they come to you! If anyone can get rid of this shame, it's you. At first I wanted this mark, too show I was important. Now it's embarrassing and I can't stop thinking of the horrible thing's I've done. Help me get rid of it… Please."

He tacked on the please because he thought it could help him if he was polite to her.

"Malfoy, I can't do it. I've tried, there's no cure. I'm hopeless!" she muttered and her shoulders slumped forward.

He didn't say anything, but leaned forward and captured her mouth with his. She was surprised at first but she responded warmly after she realized what was happening. His lips were cool against hers and she mentally compared it to Ron's kisses. Draco's were better, she decided. His had more feeling, more raw emotion, and more unpredictability. She fell into it headfirst and was upset when he pulled away.

"I shouldn't have done that. The Weasel-"

"Is married to Lavender Brown now." she cut him off. "I've never been his type. I've been in love with you since I punched you in our third year."

"I've been in love with you since the troll attack in first year and it spread around that you had gone searching for it alone. I win there."

"Where were you the past five years?"

"Around. Some France, some Italy, even Australia. I left every time I was recognized until I realized I had to come back to England, to my cure and my heart. Will you at least try to fix my arm?"

Her eyes dropped to his arm and a smug smile flickered onto her face.

"I don't have to," she said, pointing to his bare arm. "Lord Voldemort wanted his followers to be purebloods and to only love purebloods. That kiss and what we said countered his mark. Dumbledore always said love was stronger than Voldemort, here's proof."

"I thought you didn't know how to get rid of it."

"I didn't until I saw it disappear and put two and two together."

"Huh. Maybe you are the brightest witch of our time, Hermione."

She blushed and he leaned in for another kiss, enjoying the taste of her lips connecting to his, where they were supposed to be.

**R&R tell me what you think. PLEASE!**


	2. Epilogue

**I know I should be posting Unique. But I have 6 reviews and one more gets you Taha Aki without a shirt and yummyness so I'm hanging on for a little while more. Here is an addition to The Curse He Bears. Enjoy. I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. **

Chapter 2:

"So, Hermione. What do you do? Ministry, obviously. I think the Daily Prophet said you were an Auror but I don't remember too well." Draco asked me. I was sitting on my countertop and he was leaning next to me, while I swished and flicked my wand. My clothes started putting themselves away and dishes loaded themselves.

"Yeah, part time Auror and also inventor of spells, potions and owner of three Orders of Merlin," I said, blushing slightly. "I have a whole wall in my office dedicated to finding a certain Death Eater who went missing. Everyone thought my obsession was due to revenge."

"How flattering. Did you call in sick today?"

"No, you see, that's the problem. I call in sick a lot. I don't want to lose my job so I have to go in today." I replied. "You are coming in with me. Don't worry about being arrested though. Any proof they had of you being a Death Eater is gone, and plenty of people can testify that you didn't fight in the final battle."

"Why do you call in sick so much?"

I glared at him. "What is this, 20 questions. So far you're on three." My voice dropped low. "I have nightmares. Really bad ones. I can't get sleep and sometimes I go into panic attacks."

I heard a whispered _Legilimens _and Draco sifted through my memories, seeing the bodies on the ground. He flinched at Voldemort's face, cruel and twisted as it had been before his death. He saw his own face, and I saw details on it that I hadn't seen before. Draco's expression was horror filled, and the dream veered off course, adding a new part.

_He jumped forward, towards me crying out no! Voldemort pushed him aside and shot his green light at me. I heard the murmured, deadly words as they escaped his mouth in a snake's voice, cold and almost a hiss. Everything was black for a moment. Then I could see from the sidelines, a spectator of the Dark Lord's games. Draco had been pushed to the ground and was sobbing, crying. He let out a hoarse yell as Voldemort kicked my body._

_ "All those brains got you nowhere, Mudblood." said the snake-man as he turned to Draco on the ground. "Crucio!" I watched in horror as Draco writhed in pain and last words slipped out of his mouth. "She was stronger than you, always was. She inspired love, you created fear and she and I will always haunt you."_

_ I closed my eyes before Voldemort killed him._

"It doesn't usually go that far, usually it ends after he hits me."

"It merged with mine." Draco said.

"What?"

"I'd prefer going back to 20 questions then answer that. Favorite color?"

"No. We are going to my work now and I want answers from you. If it really matters to you, red."

"Why?"

"I am a Gryffindor, you know."

"I do know," he said and leaned into me, catching my lips with his before I could reply. "What do Potter and Weasel do now? Aurors like you? Or did Weasel take after his father and start studying rubber duckies and umbrella straps?"

"I will count that as three, so you're on seven. Harry is an Auror, yes like me. And you are right about Weasel- I mean Ron, except at the moment the rubber duckies are on hold. He's trying to take apart a telephone to see how it works."

"Hmm, I smell a problem between Snape's favorite insufferable little know it all and the clueless ginger. What happened there?" his eyes were trying to remain calm, but inside, I think he still wanted to rip Ron's head off.

"When I told you Ron was with Lavender, there was sort of another side to it that I didn't mention. Ron cheated on me with Lavender. And that's eight."

"Bastard," he hissed like the snake that represented his house and the mark that was now gone from his arm. Draco's mouth descended on mine fiercely and possessively and I let him take over my mouth.

"You know there's no need to be jealous, sure he hurt me, but being tied down with Lavender and five kids with a crappy job is a fairly good punishment

"So's a broken nose, but I'm guessing you did that already."

I nodded and pressed my mouth onto his again. So much for work.

**So I got bored and stuck on Unique a while ago and this was driving me crazy… so here's sort of an epilogue for The Curse He Bears. And I'm sure you all figured out what's going on now. ;)**


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